Accidental blast at JK police station linked to ‘white-collar’ terror evidence

An accidental explosion ripped through Nowgam police station killing eight people and injuring 27 others The blast occurred while authorities were extracting samples from a large cache of explosives confiscated in the whitecollar terror module case officials said on SaturdayAccording to the officials the blast happened late Friday night killing eight people and injuring 27 mostly policemen and forensic officials So far eight bodies have been retrieved from the scene of the explosion The injured have been admitted to different hospitals in Srinagar they said adding that efforts are on to identify those killedThe blast occurred when personnel were handling the explosive material that had been brought from Haryanas Faridabad they said The material part of the 360 kilograms of explosives recovered from the rented residence of arrested doctor Muzammil Ganaie was being sampled as part of the ongoing investigation the officials saidThe bodies have been taken to Police Control Room Srinagar At least 24 police personnel and three civilians were admitted to various hospitals in the city the officials said The massive blast smashed the quiet of the night and damaged the police station building Small successive explosions prevented immediate rescue operations by the bomb disposal squadWhile some of the explosives recovered have been kept at Forensic Lab of police the major part of the 360 kg of explosives was stored at the police station where the primary case for the terror module was registered The entire conspiracy was unravelled after the posters threatening police and security forces appeared on walls in Bunpora Nowgam in midOctober Treating the incident as a serious threat the Srinagar police registered a case on October 19 and formed a dedicated teamMeticulous framebyframe analysis of CCTV footage led investigators to identify the first three suspects arrested Arif Nisar Dar alias Sahil YasirulAshraf and Maqsood Ahmad Dar alias Shahid These three had cases of stone pelting registered against them and they were seen pasting the postersTheir interrogation led to the arrest of Maulvi Irfan Ahmad a former paramedic turned Imam preacher from Shopian who supplied the posters and is believed to have radicalised the doctors using his easy access to the medical communityThe trail ultimately led the Srinagar police to Al Falah University in Faridabad where they arrested Dr Muzammil Ahmad Ganaie and Dr Shaheen Sayeed It was here that the massive cache of chemicals including ammonium nitrate potassium nitrate and sulphur was seizedInvestigators believe the entire module was run by a core trio of doctors Muzammil Ganaie arrested Umar Nabi driver of the car laden with explosives that exploded near the Red Fort on November 10 and Muzzaffar Rather absconding The role of the eighth arrested person Dr Adeel Rather the brother of the absconding Dr Muzzaffar Rather from whom an AK56 rifle was seized is still under investigationThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever